Deck the halls!

After all the fun I had swapping ornaments with Alisa and Brittany last year, I was very excited to take part in this year's Freshly Blended ornament swap. The idea behind the swap is that you create a series of ornaments and send them among the group of 10 people that the blog gives you. A bunch of designers from the office wanted to participate as well this year, so we decided to each make an extra ornament to swap between ourselves in the studio too.

I was inspired by a lovely snowflake ornament I spotted on Etsy that used a vintage brooch at the center. I loved the glamourous antique look, but I wanted my pieces to have a bit more sparkle. I decided to add glitter and metal to the mix to jazz them up. For a month or so I scoured local antique stores for the components of my snowflakes. I bought up vintage earrings, buttons, sheet music and various doo-dads that I thought might work... even old bundt pans. I found plain chipboard snowflake ornaments at Michael's and used Martha Stewart "white gold" glitter to cover them, layering the paper and other elements to create these beauties!

It was so nice to work on a project that wasn't "work" related and just let me enjoy the process of creating just for the fun of it. This project reminded me that I do actually love crafting and creating something beautiful, especially when I can repurpose something old or overlooked and give it new life. I'd like to make more of these ornaments, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for lovely little things that can be used during the next 11 months or so. It will be great to find items at estate sales and such during the summer.

I was really pleased with the way they turned out and was a little sad to have to send my snowflakes on their merry way around the globe. I packaged them up and bid them adieu! I can only hope that their new owners love them as much as I do. Stay tuned to see what all the other designers in the studio created and what fun little treasures I received in return!

Masterpiece Theatre

Anyone who knows me well knows how much I adore Halloween. Frankly, I love any excuse to dress up in costume! Each year at work, my colleagues and I devise an "elaborate" theme for our department. The first year was The Wizard of Oz, but we have also dressed as pirates, pageant queens and the Rockford Peaches from A League of Their Own. This year we quickly agreed to dress as women from famous works of art. This posed a bit of a challenge as many of the most recognizable works of art featuring women happen to nude. (Not terribly work appropriate!)

After much debate, I choose Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère for my costume. Using my rudimentary sewing skills, I altered a velvet blazer and a periwinkle blue bridesmaid dress into a suitable replica of the barmaid's dress. The finishing touch was the highly unflattering blonde wig with blunt cut bangs. Definitely not a good look for me!

My design department is certainly one of a kind! Brittany as Girl with a Pearl Earring, Kristy as a diner patron from Nighthawks, Jody as Andy Warhol's portrait of Marilyn Monroe, Maria as a Roy Lichtenstein pop art painting, Kristina as the Mona Lisa, and me. Together we won third place in the company's costume competition, each walking away with a cool $20 gift card to Target! Sweet!

Take me with you!

Visit my company's blog to score free desktop wallpapers designed by yours truly! Now you can have a little piece of moi on your laptop or cell phone. Never leave home without me! ;)

Mixing business and pleasure

Sorbet, a new product line I worked on, should now be available in your local Jo-ann's. A few weeks ago, I created some cute projects to show it off on our company blog and wanted to share it here too. Enjoy!

"Sorbet is a sweet treat that is sure to please! This enchanting collection celebrates the light and carefree feeling of childhood memories. With it’s delicious dessert inspired color palette, this fresh new line brings the simple pleasures of summertime to life!"

In the market...

On a hot and steamy Sunday last weekend, the fam and I headed to the Ann Arbor Antiques Market. I’ve always enjoyed browsing such places, but I haven't been to this market for a few years. It definitely seemed to have less vendors than I recall, but it was still full of possibilities! There were a great variety of items to sort through, from trinkets and kitsch to real treasures. Beautiful and interesting items caught my eye that day, but I was on a budget and supposed to be just browsing...

I did snag a good deal and added a few more old wooden printing blocks to my alphabet collection. (score!) A popular trend at the show was the idea of using found objects as art pieces. One booth had mounted a vintage car grill and a very large weathervane as objets d'art on its walls. I loved the graphic nature of this look and was particularly impressed with the booth from Worden Select Objects. The booth was outfitted with a clean white backdrop like a gallery, allowing the colors of the antiques to really pop. The huge globe hanging from the ceiling was so striking! The display was really visually interesting and merchandised beautifully. I totally wanted to live in this fabulous booth!

The Antique Market takes place one weekend a month through the fall and I hope to get back again this year. Hopefully, I’ll have more time to peruse the show and discover more unique pieces. Maybe I can check it out next month when it’s not so dang humid!

All's Fair!

Here in the Ann Arbor area, we are squarely in the midst of “fair” season. With the Ann Arbor art fairs opening today, I thought it would be good to remind you that these three huge fairs aren’t the only game in town...

Two weeks ago, I attended the Shadow Art Fair in Ypsilanti. Shadow Art is a much more casual, indie type affair (it’s in a bar for god’s sake) with items ranging from weird and wacky to one of a kind. I saw some beautiful photography, cool posters and cute little felt items but nothing that really made me swoon. I downed a beer and walked away with just the cool “Bike Ypsi” shirt I bought for my man, (Yes, I am a very kind and generous soul.)

I have higher hopes for Mitten Made, a local arts & crafts sale held at The Blue House this coming weekend. The crafts I’ve seen on The Blue House website look lovely and much more my style. I’m particularly excited to check out locally crafted jewelry and letterpress stationery. (Two things I can never get enough of!) I’m also very excited to see The Blue House in person. This new crafts collective offers studio space, classes and a consignment shop for local handmade goods. Certainly, a very cool addition to Ann Arbor! For more information about The Blue House and Mitten Made, check out http://www.bluehouseannarbor.com

July 31st and August 1st will be Maker Faire Detroit (technically Dearborn) held at The Henry Ford. The fair seems to be a mix of everything DIY, from unicycles to robots to radios... I’m not sure yet if I’ll be attending this fair, held by Make magazine. Maker Faire sounds like it could be more of a nerd-fest for engineers than anything else so I’ll have to do more research on this one...

I'll be heading downtown to the A2 art fairs tomorrow with my fellow designers, searching for new exciting art to inspire us. Are there any other local art fairs coming up that I should check out?

P is for Phinneas

One of my oldest and dearest friends gave birth to her first child today! She and her husband are the smartest, funniest, most talented couple I've ever met. As a molecular biologist and an illustrator, they are the perfect balance and I can't imagine better parents for baby Finn. Or is it Phinn? I guess we will have to work that one out...

Since Finn's proud papa is an artist and the couple know so many creative people, they asked friends and family to design an alphabet card to be hung in the baby's nursery. I can't wait to see how the project comes together with artists all over the country working in so many varied styles. It will be a unique gift for this one of a kind kid!

I wanted to design something sweet and modern with a touch of whimsy. So, here is my card, the lovely letter E! ... and of course since I am such a procrastinator, the baby arrived before my card did. Oh well!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

One of my goals with this blog is to share information on some local places that inspire me. My first field trip (and one of my favorite annual events in Michigan) is the Historic Indian Village Home Tour in Detroit. I've gone for almost 10 years and I'm still impressed by the unique charm of this neighborhood. This eclectic group of homes covers three residential streets and offers many different styles of architecture including late Victorian, Tudor revival, Federal, Colonial revival, and many variations on the Arts and Crafts style. Most of the homes here were built between the turn of the last century and the 1930s, ranging in scale from lovely cottages to massive mansions. I think this area is a special gem in a city that has already lost too much of its historic architecture. A stroll through Indian Village helps give us all a taste of Detroit's grand past. Period details like carved woodwork, dumb waiters, manicured gardens, butler's pantries, beautiful leaded glass, carriage houses and original Arts and Crafts Pewabic tile work are the things that draw me back year after year. Every home here is a unique piece of history that you can touch and feel. If you are interested in exploring this beautiful neighborhood, I'll see you the first Saturday in June next year. For now, enjoy the photos! Keep in mind that interior photography of the tour is frowned upon (and by frowned upon, I mean expressly prohibited) so keep this on the dl...

For more information about Indian Village:

http://www.historicindianvillage.org/homeandgardentour.html

Even as a designer, I often get lost in the monotony of daily life. Investing so much creative energy at work leaves me with little motivation (and too few hours in the day) to devote to my own creative endeavors. I hope this blog will be the spark to reignite my passion for art, handmade crafts, architecture, photography and all things old and beautiful. Bellewether gives me a good excuse to get off my butt and explore the world around me. Hopefully I'll unearth inspiration in unexpected places!